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Jessica Andrade is headed back down to the division where she experienced her greatest success.

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The former strawweight queen will return to 115 pounds for a matchup against Lupita Godinez at UFC 319. Ag.Fight was first to report the pairing. UFC 319 takes place at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 16 and is headlined by a middleweight championship bout between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.

Andrade is coming off back-to-back losses against Jasmine Jasudavicius and Natalia Silva at 125 pounds. Prior to that, “Bate Estaca” earned victories over Mackenzie Dern and Marina Rodriguez at strawweight. While the 33-year-old Brazilian was a title holder at 115 pounds, she came up short in a bid for flyweight gold, falling to Valentina Shevchenko via TKO at UFC 261.

Godinez snapped a two-bout skid in her first appearance of 2025, as she outpointed Julia Polastri at UFC on ESPN 64 on March 29. “Loopy” is 8-5 since beginning her Octagon tenure…

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Sean O'Malley did everything he could to prepare for the rematch with Merab Dvalishvili.

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He underwent surgery to repair his ailing hip, quit smoking marijuana, disconnected from social media and in general adopted an more focused mindset. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough. While “Suga” looked improved in the early going, Dvalishvili gradually asserted himself en route to a third-round submission victory in the UFC 316 headliner.

A few days removed from that defeat, O’Malley could do little more than tip his cap to his Georgian rival.

“He felt strong last time but this time he felt just freakishly strong,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “He’s the greatest bantamweight of all time.”

The loss likely removes O’Malley from the title picture for the foreseeable future — especially for as long as Dvalishvili reigns atop the division. Nonetheless, the 30-year-old MMA Lab product seems to be at peace with his situation. Much of tha…

A bantamweight barnburner has been added to UFC Abu Dhabi. 

Petr Yan (18-5) will face Marcus McGhee (10-1) at UFC on ABC 9 on July 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Multiple outlets confirmed the booking on Wednesday following an initial report from Cageside Press. UFC Abu Dhabi is headlined by a middleweight showdown pitting Robert Whittaker against Reinier de Ridder.

Yan’s title reign came to an end at the hands of Aljamain Sterling via disqualification in 2021. After failing to reclaim his title in the rematch, Yan dropped two more fights against future champs Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili. “No Mercy” has since bounced back with consecutive decision wins over Yadong Song and former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo last year. 

McGhee made his UFC debut on 13 days’ notice in 2023 and has racked up four straight wins with three finishes. McGhee comes off a unanimous decision win over fellow top prospect Jonathan Martinez, going the d…